Indutrade Develops Skills from AI to Cybersecurity

Indutrade is an international industrial group whose business idea is to develop and acquire companies with high technological expertise. The group is committed to the long-term development of individuals and businesses.

Together, we provide training sessions for Indutrade and its subsidiaries’ personnel, spreading awareness and sparking interest in modern work methods and tools across various business areas and support functions. Close training collaboration has been ongoing for six years already. During this time, we have conducted 180 training sessions – with more in the pipeline!

Indutrade and Sulava have travelled a long journey together, including the adoption of Office365, cybersecurity development, and continuous services. The collaboration expanded in 2023 to Copilot Modern Work as a Service, facilitating the adoption of Copilot for Microsoft 365 for Indutrade and its subsidiaries.

Meeting the need for new skills with continuous collaboration

Indutrade and its subsidiaries’ personnel have explored topics such as the possibilities of Power Platform, enhancing work with Office tools, leveraging artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity in the training sessions. The training cycle lasts approximately three months, with breaks between cycles for reflection and future planning with Mikko Eskola (M365 Expert, Indutrade), Jarmo Kaijanen (Finland CIO, Indutrade), Marko Johansson (Account Manager, Sulava), and Sulava trainers.

Sulava contacts feel like colleagues – A friendly atmosphere and strong expertise behind it.

Mikko Eskola says.

And from my experience, that’s quite rare. Something has been done really right in Sulava’s recruitment process to bring in a lot of good people for the job.

Jarmo Kaijanen adds.

During the planning days, systematically collected feedback and training requests are reviewed. Additionally, skill needs are identified from incoming support tickets and a broader IT survey conducted annually. Training feedback, requests, and skill observations from support requests and the IT survey form the basis for planning future training sessions.

Sulava, as Microsoft’s official Training Services Partner, addresses the extensive skill needs by providing Indutrade with a training team comprising experts in selected topics. Trainers have included Otso Kasanen, Martin Fremer (modern work methods and tools; work efficiency, internal communication, and collaboration), Miska Kytö (utilizing artificial intelligence), Janne Jalava (cybersecurity training for all personnel), and Päivi Pylväläinen (Office tools: Excel, Word, and PowerPoint). Additionally, Jukka Peltola has long served as an Advisory Services consultant for continuous services.

The benefits of continuous collaboration are evident for the participants with excellent understanding of target group needs in training. Sulava understands the basics of Indutrade’s operations and technical environment. Representatives from subsidiaries have been very satisfied with the model, as it offers a wide range of necessary and timely training sessions that receive praise from participants and enable them to enhance their work. Thanks to regular training and skill growth, the volume of support tickets has also decreased.

“The relaxed, open, and warm atmosphere at Sulava shines through in everything, and it probably starts from the founders,” says Jarmo Kaijanen. “I really like that instead of official tickets or support requests, you can just send a Teams message and things get done,” adds Mikko Eskola.

Revealing new opportunities and hidden talents through training

Training is also utilized when potential technology is identified, and the message about its potential benefits needs to be conveyed. Often, these types of training sessions reveal development needs when knowing what the technology enables.

An eye-opening training session on Power Platform’s Power Automate, for instance, resulted in processes such as travel approvals and quality reporting automation, improving work, and saving euros.

“Training provides an opportunity to more easily identify those individuals in the organization who are truly interested in developing their skills. Through training, we can make these individuals more visible and target further training to them more easily,” Jarmo Kaijanen adds.

AI training led to a warm welcome for Copilot for Microsoft 365

Towards the end of 2023, a training session on the possibilities of AI organized for Indutrade and its subsidiaries has been the most popular among all training sessions held so far. The training helped participants understand the potential of AI in enhancing their work, with personal time-saving being particularly appealing.

Leveraging AI and Copilot for Microsoft 365 give Indutrade a clear competitive advantage in its traditional industry. The minimum purchase limit for Copilot licenses, 300 at the time, was met, thus enabling the benefits of AI assistants for PK-sector subsidiaries that wouldn’t have been able to achieve this independently and this quickly. Hence, Indutrade wanted to get started as soon as possible, and Copilot was warmly received in the subsidiaries.

The pace has been fast! After the AI training, Jarmo was in a meeting with the executives where the decision to acquire Copilot licenses was made.

Sulava Account Manager Marko Johansson comments.

The management understood that we can’t afford to stay out of this. The sooner we get involved, the greater the benefits we will gain.

CIO of Indutrade Finland Jarmo Kaijanen adds.

Indutrade brings significant added value to its subsidiaries by enabling Copilot licenses and training sessions among the first in Finland. However, licenses alone are not sufficient for meaningful change – the transition of work always requires change management and training alongside it. Alongside the license acquisition, the collaboration between Sulava and Indutrade was expanded to Copilot Modern Work as a Service, enabling organizations to easily get started with Copilot.

“I think it’s very important that we chose Sulava for this service because it’s too much to expect people to figure out using AI on their own. The transition of work requires a lot of effort, and it needs support and training,” says Jarmo Kaijanen, adding, “I especially liked that change management is strongly included in the service.”

“Copilot surprises with what it can do! Sometimes, even our imagination isn’t enough to grasp what it can handle,” reflects Mikko Eskola, continuing, “When the use of AI is improved, and data from companies’ information systems and business applications such as CRM and ERP systems are integrated, then it will truly blossom! Not to mention the time savings from Copilot for Microsoft 365, freeing up time for other tasks.”

Writer: Johanna Järäinen
Published in February 2024